Lack of Racial, Ethnic, and Sex Disparities in Ischemic Stroke Care Metrics within a Tele-Stroke Network

Author(s):  
Sujan Reddy ◽  
Tzu-Ching Wu ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Mohammad Hossein Rahbar ◽  
Christy Ankrom ◽  
...  
Stroke ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sujan T Reddy ◽  
Tzu-Ching Wu ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Mohammad H Rahbar ◽  
Christy Ankrom ◽  
...  

Introduction: Little is known on the impact of telestroke in addressing disparities in acute ischemic stroke care. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of acute ischemic stroke patients evaluated over our 17-hospital telestroke network in Texas from 2015-2018. Patients were described as Non-Hispanic White (NHW) male or female, Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) male or female, or Hispanic (HIS) male or female. Single imputation using fully conditional specification was conducted to impute missing values in NIHSS (N=103). We compared frequency of tPA and mechanical thrombectomy (MT) utilization, door-to-consultation times, door-to-tPA times, and time-to-transfer for patients who went on to MT evaluation at the hub after having been screened for suspected large vessel occlusion at the spoke. Results: Among 3873 patients (including 1146 NHW male (30%) and 1134 NHW female (29%), 405 NHB male (10%) and 491 NHB female (13%), and 358 HIS male (9%) and 339 HIS female (9%) patients) (Table 1), we did not find any differences in door-to consultation time, door-to-tPA time, time-to-transfer, frequency of tPA administration or incidence of MT utilization (Table 1 & 2). Conclusion: There was a lack of racial, ethnic, and sex disparities in ischemic stroke care metrics within our telestroke network. In order to fully understand how telestroke alleviates disparities in stroke care beyond our single-network review, collaboration among networks is needed to formulate a multicenter telestroke database similar to the Get-With-The Guidelines.


Stroke ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (10) ◽  
pp. 2618-2626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Negar Asdaghi ◽  
Jose G. Romano ◽  
Kefeng Wang ◽  
Maria A. Ciliberti-Vargas ◽  
Sebastian Koch ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
pp. 194187442110070
Author(s):  
Felix Ejike Chukwudelunzu ◽  
Bart M Demaerschalk ◽  
Leonardo Fugoso ◽  
Emeka Amadi ◽  
Donn Dexter ◽  
...  

Background and purpose: In-hospital stroke-onset assessment and management present numerous challenges, especially in community hospitals. Comprehensive analysis of key stroke care metrics in community-based primary stroke centers is under-studied. Methods: Medical records were reviewed for patients admitted to a community hospital for non-cerebrovascular indications and for whom a stroke alert was activated between 2013 and 2019. Demographic, clinical, radiologic and laboratory information were collected for each incident stroke. Descriptive statistical analysis was employed. When applicable, Kruskal-Wallis and Chi-Square tests were used to compare median values and categorical data between pre-specified groups. Statistical significance was set at alpha = 0.05. Results: There were 192 patients with in-hospital stroke-alert activation; mean age (SD) was 71.0 years (15.0), 49.5% female. 51.6% (99/192) had in-hospital ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. The most frequent mechanism of stroke was cardioembolism. Upon stroke activation, 45.8% had ischemic stroke while 40.1% had stroke mimics. Stroke team response time from activation was 26 minutes for all in-hospital activations. Intravenous thrombolysis was utilized in 8% of those with ischemic stroke; 3.4% were transferred for consideration of endovascular thrombectomy. In-hospital mortality was 17.7%, and the proportion of patients discharged to home was 34.4% for all activations. Conclusion: The in-hospital stroke mortality was high, and the proportions of patients who either received or were considered for acute intervention were low. Quality improvement targeting increased use of acute stroke intervention in eligible patients and reducing hospital mortality in this patient cohort is needed.


Author(s):  
Renate B. Schnabel ◽  
Stephan Camen ◽  
Fabian Knebel ◽  
Andreas Hagendorff ◽  
Udo Bavendiek ◽  
...  

AbstractThis expert opinion paper on cardiac imaging after acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) includes a statement of the “Heart and Brain” consortium of the German Cardiac Society and the German Stroke Society. The Stroke Unit-Commission of the German Stroke Society and the German Atrial Fibrillation NETwork (AFNET) endorsed this paper. Cardiac imaging is a key component of etiological work-up after stroke. Enhanced echocardiographic tools, constantly improving cardiac computer tomography (CT) as well as cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offer comprehensive non- or less-invasive cardiac evaluation at the expense of increased costs and/or radiation exposure. Certain imaging findings usually lead to a change in medical secondary stroke prevention or may influence medical treatment. However, there is no proof from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) that the choice of the imaging method influences the prognosis of stroke patients. Summarizing present knowledge, the German Heart and Brain consortium proposes an interdisciplinary, staged standard diagnostic scheme for the detection of risk factors of cardio-embolic stroke. This expert opinion paper aims to give practical advice to physicians who are involved in stroke care. In line with the nature of an expert opinion paper, labeling of classes of recommendations is not provided, since many statements are based on expert opinion, reported case series, and clinical experience.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0271678X2110337
Author(s):  
Jui-Lin Fan ◽  
Ricardo C Nogueira ◽  
Patrice Brassard ◽  
Caroline A Rickards ◽  
Matthew Page ◽  
...  

Restoring perfusion to ischemic tissue is the primary goal of acute ischemic stroke care, yet only a small portion of patients receive reperfusion treatment. Since blood pressure (BP) is an important determinant of cerebral perfusion, effective BP management could facilitate reperfusion. But how BP should be managed in very early phase of ischemic stroke remains a contentious issue, due to the lack of clear evidence. Given the complex relationship between BP and cerebral blood flow (CBF)—termed cerebral autoregulation (CA)—bedside monitoring of cerebral perfusion and oxygenation could help guide BP management, thereby improve stroke patient outcome. The aim of INFOMATAS is to ‘ identify novel therapeutic targets for treatment and management in acute ischemic stroke’. In this review, we identify novel physiological parameters which could be used to guide BP management in acute stroke, and explore methodologies for monitoring them at the bedside. We outline the challenges in translating these potential prognostic markers into clinical use.


2021 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. S162
Author(s):  
A.P. Etges ◽  
L. Ogliari ◽  
J.S. Souza ◽  
B. Zanotto ◽  
Cardoso R Bertoglio ◽  
...  

Stroke ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Limin Wang ◽  
Merry Holliday-Hanson ◽  
Joseph Parker

Objectives: A report on ischemic stroke care at California hospitals was based on risk-adjusted 30-day mortality and accounted for many important risk factors (patient demography, clinical characteristics, and stroke severity). Other studies have indicated that geographic location, hospital characteristics and insurance type may also be drivers of differences in quality of care. The effect that these and other factors may have on hospital performance ratings for ischemic stroke is not well understood. Methods: Data used were from the California patient discharge data 2011-2013, collected by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD). Hospitals were chosen according to their performance in two recent hospital “report cards” on stroke produced by OSHPD. We compared 15 hospitals rated as “Better” with 14 “Worse” hospitals (10615 patients) on patient demographics, geographic location, insurance type, hospital characteristics, tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) use and expected 30-day mortality rate. Results: Patients admitted to “Worse” hospitals were more likely to be younger, white or Hispanic, and reside in lower income zip codes than “Better” hospitals ( P <0.001). “Worse” hospitals served a significantly higher percentage of patients with Medi-Cal insurance than “Better” hospitals (14.4% vs 9.6%, P <0.001). There were no significant differences in hospital geography or teaching status, bed size or Get With the Guidelines-Stroke Hospitals status between “Worse” and “Better” hospitals. Patients admitted to “Worse” hospitals had similar lengths of stay as those at “Better” hospitals and the transfer rate was also similar. “Worse” hospitals coded significantly fewer secondary diagnoses compared to “Better” hospitals (40.5% vs 53.0%, P <0.005). The tPA usage rate was significantly higher in the “worse” group than the “Better” group (11.5% vs 9.2%, P <0.005). “Worse” hospitals had significantly lower expected 30-day mortality rates compared to “Better” hospitals (8.8% vs 11.6%, P <0.005). Conclusion: Hospital performance ratings on ischemic stroke outcome were significantly associated with patient geographic location, socioeconomic status, and insurance type, but were not related to hospital characteristics.


Stroke ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Roering ◽  
Michelle Peterson ◽  
Muhammad Shah Miran ◽  
Melissa Freese ◽  
Kenneth Shea ◽  
...  

Background: Nurse practitioner (NP) have a wider role in modern stroke centers providing quality evidence based care to patients in both in and outpatient settings for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients. We studied the outcome measures, length of stay (LOS) and cost before and after implementation of nurse practitioners as the primary medical provider in a community based stroke center. Methods: St Cloud hospital is acute care hospital with dedicated stroke service responsible for workup and management of all patients admitted with AIS and TIA. From March 2014-March 2015, all patients were primarily managed by stroke neurologists with or without support of NP, representing physician driven arm. From June 2015-March 2016 all non-critical patients were managed primarily by NP, representing the NP driven arm of care. For this analysis, we excluded all patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage or intracerebral hemorrhage. Using ICD codes, we abstracted LOS and hospitalization cost for all patients, and compared between two arms. Results: A total of 822 patients were included in physician arm and 336 in NP arm. The mean age was 72±14 years for both arms, and 54.4% were male in physician arm and 57.4% were male in NP arm. The mean total LOS for the physician arm was 3.1 ±3.3 days while 2.9±3.6 for NP arm (p=0.6). The total cost for physician arm was $11,286.70 ±$10,920.90 while the NP arm was $10,277.30± $10,142.30 (p=0.1). Conclusion: There is a trend towards lower cost and length of stay with implementation of NP as primary stroke provider for patients admitted with acute ischemic stroke.


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